


Marauders' Hogwarts

by AlyssAlenko



Series: Marauders' Era [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Classes, F/M, Friendship, Innuendo, Magic, Marauders Friendship, Marauders' Era, Original Character(s), Romance, Secrets, Slow Build, harry potter overlap, rule-breaking, story divergent
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-13
Updated: 2016-10-21
Packaged: 2018-08-08 11:49:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 12,247
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7756780
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlyssAlenko/pseuds/AlyssAlenko
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This story is a little bit canon divergent, I've always been in love with Sirius, and the poor guy deserved a little bit of happiness before the end, so I wrote this years ago in the era of the Marauders--completely edited from the original version I posted on fanfiction.net as MiraStelloc. While waiting for her Hogwarts acceptance letter, Mira spent an immeasurable amount of time in the muggle world, but when accepted she brings some of that knowledge to Hogwarts with her. She meets new people, as they learn in a world where Voldemort hasn't fully risen to his evil, nefarious and infamous status, as they all hope to stop him from gaining a foothold.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Remy

Mira Stelloc stared quietly out of the open window of the car as they drove to their new home. When she’d turned eleven, because of the remarkable powers she’d shown when she was born; both of her parents had always known she was a witch and it was only a matter of time until she received her letter from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Anticipating the arrival of her owl, her parents had decided to move houses, to put their daughter closer to school, and each of them closer to their jobs in the wizarding world.

“When do I get my letter?” She asked suddenly.

She tore her eyes away from the scenery flicking past the window outside the car, and watched her parents in the front seat. Her mother shook her head, with an amused smile before glancing back at her daughter; her lavender eyes were sparkling mischievously—Mira was way too much like her father, Grey, but Phoebe loved them both so much. Grey snorted in the driver’s seat beside her.

“You’ll get it when you get it.” Phoebe replied, lazily reaching over and putting her hand on her husband’s knee.

“I want it now.”

“Honey, stop whining.” Grey said, chuckling.

The apple didn’t fall far from the tree. He’d seen that sparkle in her eye before and it always meant she was about to be as obnoxious as she could be—she got it from him; he had played pranks on her since she was five years old and old enough to understand that he wasn’t serious. Sometimes he wondered how he’d gotten so lucky as to find a woman willing to put up with his nonsense; one willing to marry him and give him an adorable daughter that looked exactly like her, aside from the ebony color of her hair and the lavender color of her eyes…those Mira got from him.

“I bet Voldemort didn’t have to wait this long.” Mira muttered, crossing her arms over her chest and slumping down in the backseat. “Are we there yet?”

“No we’re not.” Grey scolded. “And don’t say that name.”

“What, Voldemort?”

Both of her parents shuddered; no one dared to speak that name anymore—even if it couldn’t hurt them…he’d been wreaking havoc in the wizarding world for 32 years but no one had been able to do anything about it. And so he just gained more and more power and followers. Mira crossed her arms over her chest in silent protest of the long drive—even though moving themselves was the last trip the three of them had to make; what she wouldn’t give for a sibling at times like these when she was bored out of her skull.

“Are we there now?” She said suddenly, less than one minute later.

Phoebe chuckled as her husband gnashed his teeth together in frustration with his child—he’d brought this on himself having annoyed his only child practically her whole life, she was bound to retaliate in some form or another. He’d done far worse. One could only imagine what Mira would do once she had a whole arsenal of spells at her disposal and the know how to use them when she was the proper age…

“No, sweetie.” She replied calmly.

“What about now?” Mira asked.

“Still no.” She rolled her eyes.

“What abou—”

Grey smacked the steering wheel lightly. “Don’t you have a book to read?”

Mira’s eyes lit up in delight. “You’re right! Thanks Daddy!”

Grey let out an audible sigh of relief, as Phoebe laughed quietly to herself. In the back seat, Mira quietly pulled her book ‘The Complete Collection of Sherlock Holmes’ out of her bag; her parents had bought it for her when she turned eleven, expecting her to pick it up when she was older, but to their surprise she started reading it immediately…and enjoyed it. Her father smiled, he’d never read a book that advanced when he was that age, but his wife had, and that must’ve been where she’d gotten it from. Mira was going to be able to do anything she wanted if she set her mind to it; the car was silent for the rest of the drive except for her turning pages in the backseat, and occasionally giggling when Holmes said something to Watson about human nature.

“Mimi, sweetheart, are you listening?”

Her head snapped up from her book it the back seat of the car…the car was stopped in front of a rather large and grand house; shed been so involved in her book she hadn’t even noticed they’d arrived at their new home. Her mother had called to her four times, but her darling little girl always tuned everything out when she read, oblivious to the world around her. Her father rolled his eyes affectionately.

“Sorry mommy; what did you say? I tune things out when I read.”

Phoebe and Grey both looked at each other, then at Mira; both of them laughing and shaking their heads. It was hard not to notice, and besides, watching her for eleven years as her parents fascinated by her rapidly growing interests, they knew her far better than she knew herself. Her father reached out and opened the car door, before ruffling her hair affectionately.

“We know.” Phoebe said.

“Your mother’s been trying to get your attention for ten minutes. We’re here.”

“Groovy.” Mira rolled up her window as she stared up at the house in front of her, before collecting her bag and book off the seat, and standing the holding the door for a moment. “So this is it?”

It was the first time she’d seen the grand Victorian-style house they’d bought, and she was instantly in love with it. It was two stories, with a deep blue paint on the outside, with white trim—shutters, porch, steps, and the crème of the crop, were the four large stone columns, that connected the front porch to an overhanging roof from the first floor. She gaped up at it in awe…they were actually going to live here? She couldn’t wait to bring friends home to this.

“Do you like it?” Her father asked, grabbing a couple suitcases out of the trunk.

Mira nodded slowly, still in awe. “Of course I do! It’s all Victorian and mysterious. What’s the catch?”

“Well it’s close to the platform—” He began.

Mira rolled her eyes, reaching into the backseat to grab her only suitcase. Everything else had been moved ahead of time while she was at summer camp. Her parents hadn’t wanted to trouble her with all the preparations of moving when it would be her last summer at camp, because after going to a year-long boarding school, summer would be the only time they were all able to spend together. The car door slammed shut, and together, the three of them made their way up the driveway.

“So it’ll be faster to get rid of me—” She interrupted.

“And when we inspected it, we put certain enchantments around it—”

Her father rolled his eyes as well, she was way too curious for an eleven-year-old, about to get her letter from Hogwarts, not knowing she shouldn’t ask what she did next. Her mother put the key into the lock, and turned. There was a click, and after turning the knob, the door spun inwards, the sight taking her breath away; they stood in the doorway for a brief moment, as she looked at the grey marble floors, and the polished mahogany banister on the side of a spiral staircase.

“Like what?” Mira asked.

“Well, you can’t use flu powder, and you can’t apparate into it. The only way to get into it is through the front door.” Phoebe placed an arm around her little girl, pulling her against her side and smoothing her hair down and kissing the top of her head.

“Why?”

“Because one of the two fireplaces is in the master bedroom—”

Mira held up her hand cutting her father off. “You know what, I don’t wanna know. Keep your secrets…where’s my room? And where are my book boxes…I’d like to unpack them please.”

“They’re already up there, go have fun.”

Mira grinned and ran up the spiral stair case and opened every door in the hallway because her parents hadn’t told her which one was her new room. She opened the last door on the right, and smiled even bigger from ear to ear; the room was painted sky blue with puffy white clouds all over the walls and ceiling, with a giant golden cursive ‘M’ mounted on the wall behind her bed. There were boxes stacked neatly in the middle of the floor labeled ‘Mira’ in huge letters and she flung herself into unpacking them with enthusiasm.

Mira was laying on her bed propped up against the headboard, with Sherlock Holmes resting on her chest, when there was a knock on her slightly ajar bedroom door. She glanced up from her book absently and saw her father poking his head into the room. Grey fully pushed open the door and lounged against the doorframe, watching his daughter for a minute before noticing the mess in her room; Mira had books, sketchpads, pencils and clothes strewn around her room. He raised an eyebrow.

“I thought you were unpacking.”

She glanced around. “I did.”

She wasn’t wrong…all the boxes were empty and out of her room. She got more and more like him every day and that thought was absolutely terrifying to him, as he watched her for a moment—if her Hogwarts house was Slytherin like his was, he’d have a lot more to worry about. He hoped against hope she was either in Hufflepuff like Phoebe was, or a different house entirely—he didn’t need her to be even more like him if he could help it…

“Generally unpacking means putting things away, on, oh I don’t know…shelves.”

Mira shrugged. “What’s the floor but the biggest shelf in the house?”

He rolled his eyes—she was going to grow up to be just like him, he knew it—and pulled an envelope out of the inner pocket of his blazer, holding it up for his baby girl to see. She narrowed her eyes, before turning back to her book, not making the slightest effort to get up and take her letter from him—which was probably his fault for not explaining what was inside the envelope. Grey laughed as he shook his head slowly as he approached her and sat on the edge of her bed.

“Your letter from Hogwarts is here.”

Mira sat bolt upright. “And?”

He patted her hand while giving her a sympathetic look.

“I’m sorry, honey. You didn’t get in.”

“What?!?” Her eyes widened in horror as he handed her the letter; she tore it from the envelope, her eyes darting quickly across the words printed neatly on the page. “Dear Miss Stelloc, we are pleased to inform you that you’ve been accepted into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Her father grinned. “Gotcha!”

Mira frowned and dropped the letter in her lap before punching her father in the arm with all the strength she could muster. He collapsed on her bed over her legs laughing, as she glared down at him—for some reason it hadn’t occurred to her that Hogwarts wouldn’t even send her a letter if she’d been rejected, and he had taken full advantage of it. He finally sat up, and drew her into a hug; he loved her so much, and only played tricks on her to relieve his stress…he’d always been this way, and Phoebe had looked past his childishness and given him a chance. She always said it was because of his eyes.

“That wasn’t a nice trick to play! You know how long I’ve been looking forward to this!”

Grey kissed her forehead. “Clean your room, and then we’ll go to Diagon Alley and get your school supplies.”

He started to stand up, but felt a gentle hand on his arm and looked down to see Mira looking at him with pleading eyes, making him smile at her. She hadn’t looked at him like that as much as she grew over the years; it was nice for her to still need him on occasion. As much as he pranked her, they both loved each other immensely. He ruffled her hair affectionately before she batted his hands away in an attempt to maintain her hairstyle.

“Daddy, before you go, can I ask a favor of you?”

He nodded almost immediately. “Go ahead.”

“Can you enchant my walls and ceiling to show different stages of the day, and to mirror the sky outside? But without the harmful UV rays or water when it’s rainy?”

“Of course.” Grey pulled out his wand, and muttered something under his breath before pointing it up at the ceiling.

Immediately, grey clouds rolled in and partially blocked off the sun making her squint in the light as she smiled. The best part was the changing skyline behind the giant golden ‘M’ mounted on the wall; she couldn’t believe how awesome this was. However she wouldn’t be around to enjoy her new room nearly as often as she would like.

“I can’t wait to learn that.”

“That was child’s play; next time give me a challenge.”

Mira snorted.

“Well, I would’ve done it myself had there not been this rule about using magic outside of school until you’re sixteen.” She muttered making her father place a hand to his chest in shock; she stuck her tongue out at him. “See? I do listen sometimes.”

Grey laughed as he shook he head, ruffling her hair once more. She leaned into his palm affectionately; even though she was the target of his jokes, she wouldn’t trade him for anything, and that meant the world to him. She reached up and tugged his sleeve, before pulling him down into a hug. Phoebe leaned against the doorframe watching them, a slow smile on her face as he kissed Mira’s forehead once more before letting her set about cleaning her room. He twirled his wife around in his arms and led her down the hallway. They had an hour or two to themselves and he intended to take full advantage of it. When everything was actually put away, Mira called down the hallway to her parents and heard them head down the stairs together.

“Come on, slowpoke, or we’ll leave you behind!” Phoebe called.

“I can’t find Holmes or my letter with my book list!” Mira cried in anguish.

“Where did you leave them last?” Her mother replied.

“I don’t know! I cleaned, so nothing is where it should be!”

“That’s quite the predicament.” Grey said from the doorway.

Mira ran her fingers through her wavy black hair in frustration, as she stared around her room. She glanced up and saw him holding a thick brown book with gold paint around the edges of the cover and along the spine, along with a folded piece of parchment as he grinned mischievously. Sherlock Holmes glinted on the cover. Mira glared at him, before stomping over to him in a huff and swiping both items from him.

“When did you take them, and how did you do it without my knowledge?” She asked.

“I’m a ninja.” He replied.

“I hate you.” She pouted as she followed him down the hallway, shoving her book in her messenger bag.

“No you don’t.”

She rolled her eyes. “I can’t hate you, you’re right…but that was still a nasty trick to play.”

“You pulled another prank on her? Grey, give her time to catch up.”

“Of course, Phoebe. Anything for you.”

Behind his wife’s back he grinned evilly at his child and shook his head at her; she’d never catch up to his tricks. This is why she’d always wanted a sibling—someone to take the attention off of her for a while and give her a moment to catch her breath. Most of the time she felt her dad acted like the eleven year old—not her. She sat in the backseat of the car staring out the window and watching the scenery flying by; Sherlock Holmes sat on the seat beside her, patiently waiting to be read.

“All right, honey. We need to go to Gringotts, but then we can split up to cover more ground. You have to get your wand, your robes, and your pet, but your father and I can get everything else.” Her mother explained, pointing in quick succession to the four places she’d mentioned.

“Okay, mommy. Let’s get started.”

Mira nodded in understanding, and trailed along behind her parents as they made their way down the cobblestone street to the large bank at the end. The building was quite an imposing structure and the moment they entered, Mira couldn’t keep her jaw from dragging along the floor in complete awe. It was nothing like the muggle bank branches—what with little white tiny trolls with black beady eyes everywhere one looked. Mira tugged on Phoebe’s sleeve.

“Yes, sweetie?”

“What are they?”

“They’re goblins; perfectly harmless…in fact this is probably the safest place in Diagon Alley.”

“Harmless…if they’re not feeling peckish for little girls.” Grey sneered.

His wife rolled her eyes and slapped his shoulder, as their daughter shrank away from the goblins and her father in fear, even as she glared at him. She couldn’t even hide the fact that she actually believed him for a second—even though part of her knew he was just trying to get under her skin like he always did. Her mother shook her head.

“Dad, I don’t believe you; I trust mum…I don’t trust you as far as I could throw you.” She mumbled.

He smirked. “Which really isn’t very far.” He smirked.

“May I help you?” A goblin asked.

Mira stopped glowering at her dad and looked up into the piercing black eyes of the goblin who had addressed the three of them. Her eyes went wide, and she cowered a little behind her mother; she needed to stop letting grey get under her skin…he only did it to get a rise out of her. The moment she stopped caring, he’d lose interest. He smiled and focused his attention on the goblin in front of them.

“Yes. Mira Stelloc would like to make a withdrawal from vault 1776. Here is her key.”

“Is my vault really number 1776?” She whispered.

Phoebe nodded. “We thought you’d appreciate that.”

Mira grinned. “Oh, I do!”

“Follow me, please.” The goblin told us.

He started down from his high, imposing pedestal that he had been staring down at them from, and beckoned with one long bony finger for them to follow along behind him, through a dark, dimly lit corridor. Her father nodded and followed suit. Mira cocked her head to the side—follow the creepy little person down the dark corridor with her dad, or hang onto her mom for dear life. She grabbed her mother’s sleeve.

“Mommy, please don’t leave me alone with Daddy and the goblin. Dad has an evil glint in his eye, and I’m scared.”

“Grey, do you see what you’ve done? Now your own child is afraid to be alone with you.”

He grinned mischievously as she caught up to him and wrapped herself around his arm, leaning against him, smacking his arm. At the moment, Mira wanted to do the same. She shook her head slowly and trailed along behind them, smiling slightly—it was nice to see how in love her parents were, even after eleven years of marriage.

After taking plenty of galleons, sickles, and knuts from her vault, the three of them went back up to the surface, making Mira smile and stretch in the sunlight. She was very happy to be a child of both the wizarding world and the muggle world; she knew the ins and outs of both because her parents had wanted her to be fully grounded and never be caught unawares at anything life would throw at her. Both parents kissed her forehead, before heading off to get her books and she followed the signs that pointed her towards Ollivander’s Wand Shop. As she looked around in awe, she ran smack into a boy her age with brown hair, shabby robes who was a little bit pale and sickly looking; the contents of her bag spilled across the pavement.

“Oh, I’m sorry!” He muttered, bending down to help her.

“It was my fault! I wasn’t looking where I was going!” Mira cried, frantically shoving things back into her messenger bag.

“Sherlock Holmes?”

She looked up, grinned sheepishly and nodded. “I love mysteries, but murder mysteries are my favorites.”

He handed the book back to her, she ran her fingers along the cover then the spine, before carefully shoving the book back in her bag—it wasn’t normal for an eleven year old to be reading Sherlock Holmes, but she wasn’t a normal eleven year old girl. She looked at him closely, there was something about him, something that made her feel like he needed protecting…and a friend. She stuck out her hand and he took it.

“Mira Stelloc.”

“Remus Lupin.”


	2. BS

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mira and Remus are finally on the train to go to Hogwarts, after an incident a few days before, that made the two of them closer than ever, even though learning his secret should've pushed her away. She's a weirdo, and chooses bandages and gauze over magical healing because she can't wait to see the gnarly scar the wound leaves behind--and it might also be for leverage later on...She meets two new friends right off the bat, and the four of them find a way to distract themselves while on the train.

“Remy, I’m fine. Quit hovering.” Mira rolled her eyes as the doctor bandaged up her right arm.

She’d chosen her favorite muggle doctor rather than St. Mungo’s, because the little weirdo was actually looking forward to the scars the five gashes up her forearm were going to leave; a battle scar from an encounter with a dangerous creature, she’d told her parents. Remus couldn’t help but feel guilty as he watched the bandage being wound around the gauze from around her thumb up to her elbow, again and again. He should’ve been paying attention to what day it was—two days before the full moon at 83% illumination of course he was going to transform. He’d been blindsided; she was his first friend ever, and so he’d let himself get distracted for a week and stop tracking the phases of the moon like he should.

“Are you sure you’re all right?”

She just nodded and waved him back a couple steps; she hadn’t gone into much depth when trying to explain the five claw marks up her lower right arm, considering she’d chosen her Podiatrist, Dr. Swanson—a muggle and the fact that she’d waited so long to come in, feeling the need to stay with Remus until the morning. Ignorance was bliss in this case. Werewolves didn’t exist in the muggle world, and she wasn’t going to be the one to pop that bubble…but the moment morning had broken and he’d turned back, they’d rushed her to the hospital and she just smiled as she climbed up onto the bed.

“I’m just lucky this is all that happened.”

“You’ll need to change the bandages twice a day, for the next four weeks.” The doctor told her.

She nodded slowly. “Thank you, Doctor Swanson.”

Doctor Swanson left them alone to go get her parents who had been freaking out so much, he’d had to ask them to leave the room while she was being examined for any infection or contamination in the wound. Remus climbed up onto the hospital bed with her and she draped her good arm consolingly around his shoulders. He felt awful, but couldn’t figure out how or when that had happened, considering she’d been with him when he changed back; her parents had flipped when she’d come inside dripping blood from her arm.

He’d expected her to run the moment he turned, but apparently that wasn’t the case…

“I’m really sorry.” He mumbled.

Mira shrugged nonchalantly. “It wasn’t your fault. You told me you needed to get home away from people just in case, but because I didn’t know what the just in case meant, I didn’t listen.”

“What exactly happened? I forget everything when I transform—the beast takes over.”

She cocked her head to one side. “Does your head hurt?”

He nodded slowly, rubbing his temples for the first time. It wouldn’t be the first time he’d woken up with a headache, the process being extremely painful for him every time he transformed since he got bitten three years ago by Fenrir Greyback because of his father not repaying a debt. His bones were forcibly elongated and changed shape, and he basically ruptured his skin and clothes—Grey had lent him some clothes from when he was eleven, thankfully—because of it, but this was the first time the headache hadn’t subsided hours after the transformation. Having only been eight when he was bitten, he hadn’t transformed enough for his human consciousness to survive when he was in wolf form, but they always said the longer a werewolf lived the better control they’d have. It wasn’t ideal, but hopefully he’d reach that level someday.

“Yes, and I don’t know why…”

“Hand me my bag, and I’ll explain it to you.”

“Okay…”

He skeptically raised an eyebrow at her, but grabbed her bag anyways and handed it to her; she opened the flap and pulled out Sherlock Holmes, staring at it sadly before showing it to him. Luckily her parents could fix the damage that had been done. He gasped audibly and pulled the book from her hands, running his fingers along the five gashes that exactly matched the ones down her right forearm that dug deep into the once pristine cover. He’d ruined her favorite book.

“My god; I did that? But why?”

“A long time ago, I read that even though some werewolves have their humanity shining through even when they’re in wolf form, that it may prevent them from harming children, but that they also have an attraction to other supernatural creatures, and if presented with a paranormal being or a human, the werewolf will always go after the supernatural entity. So I guess me being a child and a witch kind of negated each other.” She gave him a wry smile; she’d been obsessed with werewolves when she was seven. “You did this because I smashed it over your head.”

“I think you’d better start at the beginning.”

Mira grinned. “Well, I was born in a small town—”

Remus held up a hand to interrupt her. “I mean when I transformed tonight.”

She rolled her eyes, knowing full well that was what he meant, she just wanted to mess with him and add a little levity to the situation; it was actually quite serious. Luckily, she wouldn’t turn from a scratch. He was still running his fingers along the cover of the book as he waited for her to tell him exactly what had happened—even though he had a feeling he knew the gist of it. He ground his palms into his eyes in frustration with himself…why hadn’t he been more careful?

“I know. I’m just messing with you, Remy. Well as you know, we got home from the carnival, you kept telling me you needed to go home, just in case, you kept saying—but wouldn’t explain what the just in case meant. But I know now…you stopping tracking the moon phases didn’t you?” He nodded and she continued. “When the sun set, and darkness seeped in, I watched your bones and muscles grow, and rip your skin off to be replaced with fur, but we engaged in a game of cat and mouse for hours; you trying to get to me, and me trying to keep you in our backyard so you couldn’t hurt anyone.”

“But I did hurt someone!” He cried in anguish.

“I’m fine. Seriously. Just before sunrise, you’d seemed to have had enough and advanced on me; I slugged you with Sherlock Holmes—though as an eleven-year-old girl I’m pretty sure it didn’t hurt too bad and was just a minor irritant. But you didn’t like that…and—”

She held up her bandaged arm and her book.

It didn’t make any sense; she’d danced around him for nine hours and still had the strength to beat him over the head with her book? She must have been exhausted, he looked at her closely, noticing the dark circles under her eyes for the first time, and feeling even guiltier. He didn’t deserve a friend if this was how he treated them. Mira just smiled at him, and drew him into a tighter one-armed hug—this girl was probably the most amazing person he’d ever met…had it been fate that they met in Diagon Alley a week ago?

“How did you get away with only that?”

“Every time you came near me, I slugged you with my book. You realized that I wasn’t worth the effort and the pain and took to biting yourself instead…then the sun rose and the rest is history.” She shrugged.

“Oh…that’s…good…Again…I’m really sorry.” His shoulders slumped forward.

Mira waved it off. “Whatever. I’m alive aren’t I? I can’t turn from a scratch, so it’s all good.”

The door to the room burst open, startling the two of them apart. Phoebe flew into the room first, followed by Grey, they latter of which glared at Remus as they suffocated their daughter with hugs. They’d been worried sick the whole time they were in the lobby, after they’d been kicked out of the hospital room, but Doctor Swanson had explained to them that there was no sign of infection, and that she was going to be just fine, but it was going to leave a nasty scar. They hadn’t expected Mira to become fast friends with a werewolf.

“Mira! Baby, are you all right?”

“I’m fine, mommy. This is just a flesh wound—besides think of the gnarly scar I’m gonna have!”

“I want you to stay away from my daughter.” Grey muttered darkly to Remus.

“Of course, you’re right, Sir.” He sighed, climbing off the hospital bed.

Mira smacked her father’s arm with her good one before grabbing onto Remus’, stopping his hasty retreat.

“Daddy, that’s not fair! It wasn’t his fault! It was mine! He kept telling me he needed to go home but I wouldn’t listen, and now that I know his secret, there’s no way I can leave him to his fate—he’s dealt with this for three years all by himself, and if I can help in anyway, I will. Besides, in less than a week, we’re headed off to Hogwarts and he’ll help me change my bandages twice a day.” I glanced at Remus. “Won’t you, Remy?”

He chuckled at his nickname and nodded. “Of course.”

“Good.” She hopped off the bed and hooked her left arm through Remus’ right. “Come on, let’s go. I need to get home and feed Kal-El.”

Remus sat in the other back seat, reading a new book that had just come out that Mira had lent him, called Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh, while she hummed quietly, feeding a pitch black owl in a gilded cage that sat in the middle of the seat in between them. She’d named him Kal-El. His parents had been all too happy to let him go to his first day with the Stelloc family; after he’d been bitten they distanced themselves from him a little, like they were ashamed. It wasn’t until he met Mira, that he felt accepted for who he was—she knew his deepest darkest secret and instead of pushing her away, it had served to pull her in closer.

Her humming was suddenly replaced with words.

“I’m comin’ home I’ve done my time; now I’ve got to know what is and isn’t mine. If you received my letter telling you I’d soon be free, then you know just what to do if you still want me. If you still want me. Oh, tie a yellow ribbon round the ole oak tree; it’s been three long years do you still want me? If I don’t see a ribbon round the ole oak tree—” She sang softly, stroking Kal-El’s plumage through the bars as they drove to the train station.

Remus looked up from the book at her before raising an eyebrow. “Mira, what are you singing?”

“Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree. You can’t tell me you don’t know that song.” When Remus shook his head, she gaped at him. “Oh, come on! It’s a classic!”

He just blinked and stared at her like she had two heads. She shook her head and started rummaging through the pocket on the back of the passenger seat where her mother sat. There was no reason for her best friend to not know her favorite song, and she was determined to find the tape with it on it before they made it all the way to the train station. Her father glanced at her briefly in the rearview mirror, rolling his eyes at her mindless determination.

“I think Mira has it on an eight-track tape in the car somewhere.” Phoebe told Remus.

Mira snapped her fingers, suddenly remembering as she grinned. “That’s right! It’s in the dashboard! It’s white and labeled ‘Mira’s Favorite Songs’; I forgot that’s where I had you put it last time…though why we can’t just keep it in the player is beyond me—I always make you listen to it. Play it, please!”

She started to bounce up and down in her seat, making Kal-El screech in offended protest as she disturbed his preening; she bit her lip and offered him another seed as an apology. He ruffled his feathers, but accepted her peace offering and Phoebe popped the eight-track tape in the player. The song started wafting out through the speakers, Mira caught an evil glint in her father’s eye as he glanced at her briefly in the rear-view mirror.

“What?” She asked.

“We’re here.” He said, laughing.

“But the song just started!” Mira whined, crossing her arms over her chest in a huff.

“We can’t change the facts.” Grey teased.

Her mother rolled her eyes. “I’m sorry honey, if I had noticed how close we were, I wouldn’t have gotten your hopes up.”

She sighed and unbuckled her seat-belt, Remus following suit as she grabbed Kal-El and opened her door. Once out of the car, the two of them loaded their trunks onto a rolling trolley, with Kal’El’s cage placed gently on top before they started wandering down the platform behind her parents. Mira looked around cautiously—there were a lot of muggles milling about, oblivious to their presence; she scrunched up her nose, whatever they were going to do they needed to be careful not to be seen.

“So what do we do?” She asked quietly as the four of them walked down the platform together.

Her father stopped and pointed. “You see the wall between platforms nine and ten? Run at it.”

Mira stopped dead in her tracks and gaped at her father; she may have believed him about the goblins wanting to eat her—one too many fairytales—but she couldn’t believe he thought she was that gullible. No way was she going to run at a wall, and hurt herself even more than she already was. She crossed her arms limply over her chest, careful not to damage her bandaged right arm, as she glared at him, making Remus shuffle uncomfortably at the confrontation.

“Daddy, you’re crazy. I’m not running at a wall. This is one practical joke I won’t fall for.” She shook her head emphatically.

Phoebe placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. “Mimi, honey, your dad’s not lying.”

Well that was a shock.

Mira turned to her mother, eyes wide in surprise. “Let me get this straight…I have to run at a wall?”

Both her parents nodded.

“Yes, sweetie, you do.”

She shook her head, and pushed Remus ahead of her. She was going to make him go first and test it out if it killed her—she was generally an all-around nice person, but her self-preservation instinct had kicked in. Grey rolled his eyes. He didn’t even blame her for not believing him, but not trusting her mother who had never lied to her in her eleven years of life? That was a first.

“All right but if I get a concussion it’s on your heads.”

Grey snickered behind his hand. “Technically it’s on yours.”

Phoebe slapped his shoulder.

“Remy, why don’t you go first?” Mira said, turning towards him.

“So if someone gets injured, you want it to be me?”

She shrugged and held up her bandaged arm. “I’m already injured.”

He raised his hands in placating surrender, she grinned because her guilt tripping had totally worked; her father wiped away a fake tear, he couldn’t be more proud that she had more of him in her than he once thought. Remus took a deep breath, and ran at the wall disappearing into it. Mira looked around quickly at all the muggles—each one oblivious to the fact that a little boy had just disappeared into a wall and their group of four was now a group of three. She shook her head slowly.

“Because that’s not conspicuous at all.” She muttered sarcastically, following behind Remus with both her mother and father right on her tail.

“You have your extra gauze and bandages?” Phoebe pulled her daughter into a hug.

“Yes, mommy.”

“I’ll miss you so much!” She cried, suffocating Mira with yet another hug.

Mira rolled her eyes. “You’ll see me at Christmas. Did your parents do this to you?”

“Every single time…” Grey nodded.

“Well, okay then. I suppose that makes it all right.”

“Honey, because of your arm, I’ll go ahead and put your bags on the train for you. Go have fun and remember that we love you.”

“I love you guys too—except you, dad. You’re mean.” Mira joked. “Kidding. See you at Christmas.”

Remus was standing at the door watching this whole exchange, wishing his parents had cared enough to drop him off too, but at least he had Mira. As Grey wheeled her trolley away to load it up onto the train, Phoebe pulled her daughter aside and thrust a small parcel at her, making her cock her head to one side in confusion. What was in the package that her mother had to wait until her father was so distracted that she could give it to her? Mira pulled the wrapping off slowly, and opened the blue velvet box; nestled inside the white satin were two pure silver wrist-cuff bracelets.

“Since I know you’re not going to let Remus go through this alone, much to your father’s chagrin, you can still protect yourself—in werewolf form, he’ll avoid silver like the plague.” Phoebe whispered. “So I bought you these pure silver bracelets to wear on his transformation nights.”

Mira nodded and tucked the box into her bag. “Thanks mom…I feel like you want me to keep this a secret from dad?”

Phoebe nodded. “Your father hasn’t warmed up to the idea of you being best friends with a werewolf and refusing to leave him alone when he transforms, but I know you and I trust you to keep yourself safe and from being bitten. Your father will come around, but until then, our little secret okay?”

Mira placed the pointer finger of her left hand against her lips as she smiled. “He won’t hear a thing from me.”

After one last hug, Mira made her way over to where Remus was waiting, and they boarded the train together and made their way towards the back. It was the first day of rest after his transformation, and she didn’t want him to have to deal with people if he wasn’t up to it, so she was happy to sit all the way at the back…besides, she had something she wanted to show him. The first door they opened, revealed a girl their age, with dark red hair, staring forlornly out of the train window. Mira motioned for Remus to go ahead without her, before entering the compartment and taking the seat opposite the girl.

“Hey, are you okay?”

It took her a second to compose herself before she looked up. “Who are you?”

“Mira Stelloc—I’m sorry to intrude, I just wanted to know if there was anything I could do to help you.”

“You don’t even know me.”

The girl looked at her in disbelief. They were complete strangers, and yet she wanted to do all she could to help her feel better? Did she look that miserable? It was commendable though, and if this girl could do anything to help her feel better it would be nice, but unless she could make Petunia start talking to her again, there was nothing she _could_ do. The red-headed girl sighed and shook her head—getting her letter may have been the worst thing ever; her parents didn’t make it any better by being so proud.

“Sorry, it’s just something I learned from my mom. She told me to always see if there was something I could do to make people less upset—I never thought I’d actually need that advice, though. So if you want to talk, I’ll listen. Besides, if you tell me your name then I’ll know something about you, and we won’t be complete strangers anymore.”

A faint smile crossed her lips. “My name’s Lily Evans. Do you have any siblings, Mira?”

Mira shook her head emphatically. “No, I’m a one and only child. I think my mom didn’t want any more because they might end up like my dad…”

“Is your dad that awful?”

“No! He’s a serious prankster…always has been apparently, and although I hate not having a sibling that he can bother sometimes, I love him to death. Why’d you ask about siblings?”

“My sister hates me!” Lily cried, bursting into tears.

Mira immediately got up and crossed to the other seat to sit next to Lily, rubbing her back tentatively. This was definitely a first, she’d never had someone she just met trust her enough to cry all over her shoulder. Her mom would be so proud. Mira took a deep breath and let her cry for a minute or too, just to get it all out, before producing a handkerchief from her pocket, with her good hand, and handing it to Lily so she could wipe her eyes.

“I’m sure she doesn’t hate you. She’s just upset is all; she’ll get over it.”

“But what if she doesn’t?” She wailed in anguish.

“I’m no expert on sibling relationships, but sisters have a special bond; it’s impossible to hate each other forever. Though it probably won’t hurt to push the envelope and apologize to her first.” Mira patted her back.

Lily used the handkerchief to dry her eyes. “Thanks, Mira…I’m feeling a bit better.”

Mira smiled. “I’m glad I could help, but I really should go. Remy is probably sitting quietly all alone, waiting for me to show up; that boy can’t function without me. It was really good to meet you, and I hope we’re in the same house.”

“It was good to meet you too.”

With a smile and a wave, Mira got up and left the compartment, heading even further towards the back, not seeing the boy with the long black hair and the crooked nose who had just returned from getting in his robes enter Lily’s compartment. Less than 2 minutes later a boy with untidy black hair and glasses, and another boy with lanky black hair followed suit, but Mira had already found Remus, and disappeared inside his compartment with him.

“I have something to show you.” She said, as she slid the door shut behind her.

He looked up startled, not hearing her approach.

“Really? Is it your bright pink gauze to make me feel even guiltier?”

Mira cocked her head to one side. “Why would I need to show you that? You were there when my mom wrapped it for me. Besides, she could’ve healed me in an instant, being a healer at St. Mungo’s and all, but I want the scar.”

Rolling her eyes, she reached into her new messenger bag, an early birthday present from her parents that was navy blue with white stripes and anchors everywhere—a sailor bag as she affectionately called it. She pulled Sherlock Holmes out of her bag and handed it to him. Remus’ eyes opened wide as he ran his fingers along the pristine cover…he was having a hard time picking his jaw up off the floor. Was this really her book?

“Is this the same book from a few days ago?” He whispered.

She nodded. “Yup. Daddy was nice enough to fix it for me, so now you have nothing more to feel bad about.”

Remus rolled his eyes, grateful for her attempt, but he didn’t feel any less awful about attacking her when he was in his werewolf state.

“Yeah right, thanks for trying.”

Mira shrugged, not even remotely put off. “Whatever. Help me think of ways to get back at my dad that don’t involve using magic.”

“Why does he pull some many pranks on you, anyways?”

She reached out her hand for her book, shoved it back in her bag, and produced a deck of cards from another pocket. Neither knew how long the train ride was going to be, and Remus was grateful she’d packed her bag full of activities for them to do if they got bored—he hadn’t been nearly as prepared. She began shuffling the deck quickly, something she no doubt had learned from her mother; her father didn’t seem to be the card-playing type, not when he could spend his time pranking his daughter instead. Mira raised one shoulder in a half-shrug.

“Because he’s a terrible human being with nothing better to do with his time.” She muttered through gritted teeth.

“But isn’t he a high-ranking ministry official?”

Mira burst into giggles. “That doesn’t mean he doesn’t get bored…in fact, it means quite the opposite. Keeping up appearances is exhausting work.”

There was a commotion in the hallway as he chuckled quietly; she cocked her head to the side, standing up and making her way over to the door, and pressing her ear against it. One of the voices sounded sort of like Lily, but it was muffled so she couldn’t be sure that she was even part of the argument going on outside. They hadn’t even made it to school and people were already fighting about the houses; she rolled her eyes…because that wasn’t ridiculous at all. The house someone was in shouldn’t matter if you liked spending time with them.

“What’s wrong?”

She handed him the shuffled deck of cards. “Deal me in for a game of spit…I’ll be right back.”

He grinned as he nodded as he reached out to take the cards from her—at least she trusted him not to cheat…like she did every single time they played games together; when her mother caught her, she would tell her how much she was like her father. Then Mira would throw the cards and sulk for ten minutes; it always made him laugh. She poked her head out it into the hallway to see Lily and a boy with black hair already in his Hogwarts robes leaving the compartment she’d stopped in first to talk to Lily in an angry huff. She looked up and green eyes met with lavender; Mira motioned for her to share the compartment with her and Remus.

“Long time no see…who’s the boy?”

“Mira, this is Severus.”

“It’s nice to meet you.” She reached out her hand to shake the new boy’s hand, and then motioning behind her. “This is my best friend Remus…so what brings you two to our neck of the woods?”

Lily shrugged, as she threw herself into the seat next to Mira. “There were two annoying boys in our compartment. They were making fun of Severus because he wanted to be in Slytherin, and he wants me to be there too.”

“That’s stupid.” She scoffed. “It doesn’t matter what house you’re in.”

Mira would be the first to admit that she didn’t want to be in Slytherin, but that was just because she didn’t need any more reasons for anyone to compare her to her dad—her father’s coworkers did it, her mother did it, and her grandparents used to do it. Even looking exactly like her mother aside from hair and eye color, everyone compared her to her dad. She frowned, slumping into her seat with her arms folded across her chest. Severus eyed her curiously—he’d never heard someone with that kind of attitude before.

“What do you mean?” He asked quietly.

“It’s something my mom used to tell me. I always used to ask her what house I was going to be in, and she’d tell me that no matter what house I was in, she and dad would still love me. When I finally asked her why she always told me that, she said ‘it’s not what house you’re in, it’s how you use the knowledge that you’re given.’ Voldemort abused the knowledge he was given.”

“What houses were you parents in?”

Mira shrugged. “My mom was a Hufflepuff and my dad was a Slytherin. Do you guys wanna play BS?”

“I’m not sure how to.” Severus admitted.

“We’ll teach you. Tuney and I used to play it together all the time.” Lily replied.

“Remy, with you reshuffle for me please? My arm is tired.”

He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly as he gathered up all the cards he’d laid out for them to play spit, wondering why he’d gone to the effort at all, before reshuffling, and dealing 13 cards to each of them. Severus sat down in the seat next to him, the two of them staying as far away from each other as they could. Mira raised her eyebrows trying to figure out why the two of them were so uneasy with each other, when she and Lily were perfectly fine with both boys and each other. They played for the vast majority of the train ride.

“Two kings.” Remy said, placing two cards face down.

Mira scrunched up her nose as she glanced at her hand three aces glaring up at her, and then she placed her cards face down in her lap before she leaned in and studied Remus’ face closely; Severus fidgeted in his seat as Lily tapped the topped of her cards. Remus leaned back a little bit, it was always weird when they were basically recycling each others' air when she got up in his face like that, and she’d done a lot of it since they met. She had no concept of personal space.

“Bull. You need to learn how to bluff better, Remy; now take the pile. Three aces.” Mira replied casually.

“Bull.” Severus said.

Mira shrugged nonchalantly, keeping her face an emotionless mask as she reached for the pile, and turned the three cards over so everyone could see that she was, in fact, telling the truth. “Read ‘em and weep. Game over; all my cards are gone.”

“I want a rematch!” Lily cried.


	3. The Sorting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mira and Remus (and their new friends Lily and Severus) finally get to hogwarts, and the long-awaited sorting. Unfortunately no one gets to be in the house they want...it's a good thing Mira didn't really care what house she was in as long as it wasn't Slytherin. She didn't want to take after her dad...

Mira, Lily, Remus and Severus stepped off the train together, and were immediately led over to a set of small boats bobbing in the water of the lake, its surface glittering black under the stars, as the older students made their way to some carriages that lined the road pulled by the strangest creatures. Mira stopped and stared at them, only to have Remus come back and tug on her arm, dragging her over to where the first years were congregating by the shore. Was she the only one seeing them? She glanced over her shoulder again; the odd winged horse-reptile beasts stood still and quiet in the darkness. They were completely fleshless, their black coats clinging to their skeletons, of which every bone was visible, and their black manes billowed in the slight breeze that wafted over the grounds. Each one had a dragonish shaped head and pupil-less eyes that were white, facing ahead of them with a cold, dead stare and vast, black leathery wings that looked like a bat’s, sprouting from each wither.

“What weird horses.” She muttered.

“What are you talking about? There are no horses.” Remus told her looking around.

She raised her eyebrows in surprise; either he was crazy or she was—and if neither of them was insane, there had to be some other reason she saw them and he didn’t. The moment she had a chance she was going to do some research on the library and figure it out, because until she did it was going to drive her bonkers. But for the time being her focus should be on the boats…if there was one thing she hated, it was boating; one misstep and she’d end up in the water with the Giant Squid. Her dad had told her to be on the lookout for it.

“Liar, quit messing with me.” Mira pushed Remus’s shoulder playfully. “Excuse me, mister giant man! Are you making me get into a boat? I have balance issues, so if I fall in it’s on your head.”

“Technically it’s on your head.” Remus snickered.

She whirled on him, her temper flaring…she had half a mind to shove _him_ into the lake—he did not just quote her father; she may love the man to death, but sometimes he got on her last nerve. She slung her bag onto her seat, but in her anger as she climbed into the boat, her foot slipped and she fell headfirst into the black water; it was a good thing she knew how to swim. The water was freezing and the night air even more so as she broke through the surface of the lake before taking Remus’s hand and using it to hoist herself into the boat, shivering. Remus was laughing uncontrollably, making Mira slap him in the face with her long, wet black hair in retaliation.

“Mimi, I think you jinxed yourself.” He wheezed, holding his sides.

She glared at him as Hagrid stuck his big moleskin coat over her shoulders; she wrinkled her nose in disgust. His coat already smelled of mothballs, and thanks to her wet hair it started to smell like wet fur, so she took it off and handed it back to him. Hopefully she’d have time to get out of her wet clothes before the sorting began, maybe into something warmer, considering she was frozen to her core—also her bandages were soggy she noticed as Severus and Lily climbed into the boat with them,

“I’m good. Thanks though.” She turned to Remus. “My bandages are wet; you have to help me change them.”

“Right now?” He asked, cautiously glancing at Severus and Lily.

“Remy, I am wounded and need your help. Yes, now.”

“Are your bandages in your bag?”

“Yeah they are. I’m so glad I put that into the boat before I tried to get in. Otherwise, Sherlock would’ve gotten hurt yet again, and I’d have no daddy here to fix him.”

Mira grabbed her bag from where it sat next to her on the seat and shoved it at his chest. He reached inside and pulled out a set of chartreuses bandages, and the ointment Dr. Swanson had given them. While he opened it, Mira unwrapped her arm as best she could with her useless left hand. She held her breath; the ointment smelled very strongly of herbs—she really hoped Remus put the bandages on quickly to hide the smell. Part of her wondered if the gnarly scars were worth it.

“We’re lucky it’s dark.” He muttered as he smeared ointment on Mira’s arm.

“Mira, what’s wrong with your arm?” Severus asked.

“Nothing.” She said quickly, hiding her half bandaged arm behind her back when he leaned over to see her wound.

“I mean, I saw your pink bandages earlier, but I never asked about it.” Lily told her.

“It’s nothing, really. Don’t worry about it. Hurry up.” Mira hissed as she smiled and then turned to Remus, shoving her arm at him again.

“I’m going as fast as I can.” He whispered back.

“It’s nowhere near fast enough.” She teased and he stuck out his tongue at her.

The boats pulled up onto the shore when Mira began shoving the medical supplies back into her bag. Everyone got out of the boat first, and Remus hung behind to help her climb out without falling in again; offering her his hand, like he should’ve done in the first place. She grinned and linked her arm through his, and leaning against him as they ascended a large staircase that led right up to the towering double doors that served as entrance to the school.

The rest of the first years congregated outside the great hall, chattering away excitedly and Mira glanced around quickly, her eyes lighting on her trunk; it was light blue, with purple roses and a large, gold ‘M’ on it. She doubted anyone else had one like it. There had to be enough time for her to change out of her wet clothes, even though on the boat ride they’d dried a little. At least she hoped she had enough time. While making her way over to it, she collided with a girl slightly taller than her with light brown hair and they both went crashing to the floor.

“I’m sorry!” She cried jumping to her feet before holding out her hand to help Mira up.

“Me too! I wasn’t paying attention to my surroundings, only where I was going!”

“You didn’t get hurt or anything right?”

“Nope, I’m okay. How are you?”

“I’m fine. Why are you all wet?” She asked.

Mira scrunched up her nose. It wasn’t really her proudest moment that she’d fallen in the lake, but it wasn’t like she had to hide it…she didn’t even know this other girl. She held out her hand to the other girl after shoving everything haphazardly back into her bag and re-shouldering it. They shook.

“Honestly? I fell in the lake. I’m Mira Stelloc by the way.”

“Gracie Lowell. You fell in the lake…really? That’s not really a badge of honor. If anyone else asks you should say you got pulled into the lake by something.”

“Like what? The Giant Squid?”

Gracie’s eyes lit up. “That’s perfect! Go with that!”

Mira raised her eyebrows and scrunched up her nose. “Eh…No. I fell in the lake, my best friend laughed at me, and my bandages went from pink to blue.”

Gracie shrugged. “Whatever floats your boat.”

The two of them burst out into fresh peels of laughter.

“No pun intended right?” Mira gasped between bouts of giggles.

“Mira, we’re going in!” Remus called.

He walked over to her, taking her arm and giving Gracie a polite nod. He’d seen the collision and had to wonder if she met everyone like that—at first he’d been hoping he was special, but apparently his best friend was just clumsy. Mira sighed and linked her arm through his once more; she hadn’t had time to change after all. Oh well. She couldn’t be the first one to have ever fallen into the lake when they tried to get on the boats in the entirety of Hogwarts history.

“It was nice to meet you Gracie! See you in there!”

“You too, Mira!” Gracie said, and bounded into the throng of first years moving through the large double doors that led from the foyer.

“So…who was that?” Remy asked leading Mira towards the doors.

“Her name’s Gracie Lowell. She’s pretty cool.”

“How do you know? You just met her.”

“I just have this sixth sense about people, like I did with you. Let’s go in!”

Remy chuckled, and the two of them headed into the great hall with the rest of the first years. Everyone else looked rather nervous, but Mira became preoccupied with wringing out her waist length black hair, leaving a small trail of water and barely listening to the names being called. She vaguely heard a few names and houses called such as Avery—she hadn’t caught his first name, nor did she really care—who became a Slytherin; Leon Baker who became a Hufflepuff; and Sirius Black a Gryffindor.

“Evans, Lily.”

Lily slowly started forward on trembling legs, and glanced nervously back at her newest friend. Mira grinned and briefly stopped twisting her hair to release the water to cross her fingers for her; she flashed her a thumbs-up as Lily sat down on the rickety stool, and the woman dropped the overly large hat onto her head. Barely a second after it had touched her dark red hair, the hat cried, “ _Gryffindor!_ ”

Severus let out a quiet groan, and she nudged him in the ribs; even though they were obviously going to be in separate houses, he needed to be happy for her. Lily took off the hat, handed it back to the woman, then hurried toward the cheering Gryffindors, but as she went she glanced back at Severus, and there was a sad little smile on her face. Mira patted him on the shoulder as the boy Lily had pointed out to her as one of the boys from the compartment she and Severus left on the train moved up the bench to make room for her. She took one look at him, recognized who he was, folded her arms, and firmly turned her back on him.

Mira went back to wringing the water from her hair, unfeelingly, until another familiar name was called.

“Lowell, Gracie.”

“Wish me luck.” Gracie whispered.

“Luck.”

Gracie then bounced up to the front of the hall to sit on the stool. Mira flashed a grin and gave her two thumbs up, just like she had done with Lily; but Gracie hadn’t seemed to care what house she was to be in, unlike Severus. When she was done wringing the water from her hair, she stared at the ground and started drawing on the floor with the toe of her sparkly gold sandals, until Remus nudged her in the ribs and the hat cried out, “ _Slytherin!_ ” Gracie took off the hat and then joined the cheering Slytherin table, glancing towards Mira and shrugging.

“Lupin, Remus.”

“That’s you. I have my fingers crossed that we’re in the same house…if not we’ll have to figure out what happens during your…time of the month…we’ll have to talk to Dumbledore about it.” Mira whispered.

“Yeah. How about we do that after dinner?”

She nodded. “Deal.”

Remus made his way through the slowly dwindling crowd of first years and the Sorting Hat was barely on his head before it made him a Gryffindor. Mira shot him a small smile, but they wouldn’t know what they would need to do until she was sorted too, unfortunately, having an ‘s’ last name put her down towards the bottom of the list. She watched silently as Mary Macdonald became yet another Gryffindor. There was a set of twins: Kathleen and Westley Matthews who became a Hufflepuff and a Ravenclaw, respectively, and a kid named Mulciber who was made a Slytherin. She sighed; they were only in the M’s and she was already seriously bored. Peter Pettigrew and James Potter also became Gryffindors and by the time Jennifer Rothe was made a Ravenclaw there were only about a dozen of first years left to sort, including Severus but the two of them were bound to be next.

“Snape, Severus.”

Severus was another one of those, whom the hat barely touched his head before making him a Slytherin. Mira was tired of standing around—how was everyone else so okay with all the waiting? As happy as she was that Severus was sorted into Slytherin just like he wanted, She was ready for the sorting to be over. Severus moved off to the other side of the Hall, away from Lily to where the Slytherins were cheering him, and to where a kid with blonde hair wearing a Prefect’s badge gleaming upon his chest, patted him on the back as he sat down beside him and across from Gracie at the Slytherin table. Mira had half a mind to take out Sherlock Holmes to read, when she finally heard her name called making her sigh with relief and silently thank the stars that it was her turn and she was finally getting sorted. All the waiting had been torture.

“Stelloc, Mira.”

She slowly and calmly made her way up to the front of the crowd and sat down on the stool. The woman who had called her name off that long piece of parchment, placed the hat on her head, she heard a voice inside her head. Her parents had told her what to expect, so she wasn’t startled in the slightest, but apparently she wasn’t going to be one of the lucky ones that the hat knew right off the bat what to do with. She gripped the edge of the stool.

“ _Interesting; you are difficult to place. I see that you are cunning, maybe Slytherin is for you. But you are also brave at heart…You may find your true place in Gryffindor._ ” The voice said. “ _Your genius could be furthered in Ravenclaw, but your loyalty is unmatched. I know just what to do with you._ ”

“ _Bring it on._ ” She thought, certain the hat could read her thoughts.

“HUFFLEPUFF!” The hat shouted to the entire hall.

Mira grinned, happy to be taking after her mmm instead of her dad, no matter how much she loved him; she slowly removed the hat from her head, so as not to mess up the hairstyle her mother had spent an hour on that morning, and walked over to join the gold and black clad table that was cheering for her as ‘Thames, Jack’ was called and subsequently made a Slytherin. Mira took a moment to make certain to find out the name of the Hufflepuff Prefects so that she could talk to them about the password, because she would be going in later than the rest of the first years. It was after that, that the final first year, Lucas Zimmer had the hat placed upon his head, and was made a Ravenclaw.

Professor Dumbledore stood and addressed all of the students. “A reminder those returning, and a warning to those who have just joined us, The Forbidden Forrest is off limits to all students. The Whomping Willow is a new addition to our school, and doesn’t like to be approached. Please note that it will get violent, so all students should stay away. Any damage to the tree will result in detention. And now, let the feast begin.”

Remus caught her eye from the Gryffindor table, and she smiled at him while giving him a slight nod. The Whomping Willow sounded like it was there for a specific reason, and they both had an idea what that reason was, but they’d meet up after dinner and go talk to Professor Dumbledore just to be certain. It certainly sucked that they were in different houses, but Mira had a secret that would probably come in handy; with one last smile towards her best friend across the way, she turned her attention to her own table and started talking with the first years around her. Before she knew it, dinner was over.

“Um, Ralph?” Mira asked of the first prefect she saw. “I need to go speak to Professor Dumbledore about something, so I was wondering if I could know the password.”

“Of course. And just so you know, the entrance to the Hufflepuff common room is just down that hallway, and when you come to a spilt staircase, take the one on the right. The one on the left leads to the kitchens.” He said pointing the opposite direction of the Great Hall and then leaned down to whisper the password ‘mandrake root’ in her ear.

Remus met her back inside the Great Hall because she’d watched all the teachers disappear through a door behind their table…and neither one of them knew exactly where Dumbledore’s office was. Mira took Remus’s hand and led him to the door, knocking gently once they got there. The door opened on the woman who had called all the names of the first years and placed the hats on each one’s head.

“Um…Professor?” Mira asked quickly racking her brains for her name; she’d only heard it once before. “Professor McGonagall? We were wondering if it was possible for you to take us to see Professor Dumbledore. As I’m sure you’re aware, there’s an issue to discuss regarding this boy.”

She motioned to Remus behind her and Professor McGonagall nodded.

“Come with me you two.” She said briskly, and swept the two of them out of the Great Hall and down several corridors and up a couple flights of stairs where they stopped in front of a large stone gargoyle.

“Fudge Flies.” Professor McGonagall told the statue, which then sprang aside to reveal a slowly spiraling staircase. “Step onto the staircase and let it take you up to a large ornate door, then knock and wait for him to invite you in.”

“Thank you Professor!” Mira cried, and reclaimed Remus’s hand and stepped onto the staircase.

“Mira, you don’t have to come with me, really. I’ll be fine.” Remus muttered.

“I know, but I want to come. We’re in this together now.” She replied, holding up her bandaged arm.

“You’re an awesome person you know that, right?”

“So I’ve been told.” She grinned, and then reached out and knocked on the door that was now in front of them. “But you could stand to mention it more.”

“Come in.” The amused voice, of Professor Dumbledore said.

Remus and Mira pushed on the large doors and entered a marvelously decorated office with a lot of pictures on the wall, most of the figures in them asleep. There was a grand wood cabinet that towered over them, making Mira feel very small next to it, with two large ornate doors, one of which was slightly ajar letting a ray of silver light out. Next to Dumbledore’s desk—where he sat, with his arms on the desk, hand folded in front of him as he watched them take everything in—was a silver swing, on which sat a red bird, singing a mournful tune. It was rather awe-inspiring to be honest.

“Good evening, Professor.” Mira said, approaching the desk, with Remus in tow. “I was wondering what was going to happen with this boy during his…time of the month.”

“Mira…I told you I hate it when you call it that.” Remus muttered under his breath.

Professor Dumbledore chuckled. “We planted the Whomping Willow just for him. Every month he’ll be smuggled out of Hogwarts to the Whomping Willow which has a secret entrance and a path that leads to the Shrieking Shack.”

“I want to accompany him.” Mira told him.

“I’m not sure if that’s a good idea. He may harm you.”

Mira held up her right arm, showing off her chartreuse bandages. The headmaster’s eyebrows practically shot up his forehead as he looked between the two of them; that was unexpected to say the least, that an eleven-year-old girl had held her own against a werewolf. She threw her good arm around his shoulders and drew Remus in closer to her. She was not going to let him deal with this alone ever again—besides, her mother had given her a secret weapon to use whenever he transformed…and even if she could only use it on one arm for the time being, it was better to have one silver arm cuff, than none.

“I know. But I won’t let him do it alone; we’re in this together.”

Professor Dumbledore smiled and nodded. “Just be careful.”

“I will be. Thanks Professor.” Mira grinned.

“Thank you. I guess we should be on our way then.” Remus said.

Remus gave Dumbledore a slight nod while Mira linked her arm through his, matching his pace exactly, as the two of them departed the headmaster’s office and made their way back to the Great Hall. He found it rather unfortunate that they were in separate houses…he was going to have to make all new friends, even if he didn’t want to have to try, as well as hide a major part of himself. It was hard to believe she’d only come barreling into his life a month before with as close as they’d gotten, and he never wanted to let her go.

She turned towards Remus and kissed his cheek. “Go get some sleep. We have a big first day ahead of us tomorrow.”

“I know. I’m glad we met, Mira.” He replied, smiling sheepishly.

“That has got to be the sappiest thing I’ve ever heard.” She teased pushing his shoulder playfully, but hugged him nonetheless. “It’s sweet though.”


End file.
